USC Beach Volleyball All-Americans Tina Graudina, Hailey Harward Win AVP Fort Lauderdale Open

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – USC beach volleyball All-Americans Tina Graudina (Jurmala, Latvia) and Hailey Harward (Phoenix, Ariz.) reunited to capture their first-career AVP titles as winners of the Pro Series Fort Lauderdale Open on Sunday, July 31. 
 
Extending on their 30-match collegiate winning streak, the eighth-seeded duo went 5-0 and capped the weekend with a 19-21, 21-15, 15-6 victory over USC All-American Julia Scoles (Mooresville, N.C.) and the first-ever Trojan beach volleyball scholarship recipient Geena Urango (Los Alamitos, Calif.) in the title match. A USC alumna has now won each of the last three AVP events and three of the four major AVP tournaments of the 2022 season. 
 
Graudina and Harward's victory represents the 63rd and 64th individual Trojan AVP women's wins and the 49th event won by at least one female USC athlete. When added to tour wins by USC All-Americans Terese Cannon, Kelly Cheng, Sara Hughes, and April Ross, at least one USC alumna has won 35 of the last 55 AVP events since the 2014 season.
 
Including Cheng (partnered with Betsi Flint) and Hughes (partnered with Kelley Kolinske), six of the eight semifinalists in today's championship were Women of Troy, which set up the first-ever all-USC women's final.
 
Graudina and Harward are the third all-USC duo to win an AVP title. Their victory marked the 14th time that an all-USC pair has won an AVP crown; the first since Cheng (then Claes) and Hughes teamed up to win the 2017 Chicago championship. Previously, Ross and USC All-American Jennifer Kessy captured 12 AVP championships together (2009-13).
 
Undefeated in their return to action, Graudina and Harward served notice and opened the tournament with a 21-8, 21-18 win over the ninth-seeded duo of Sarah Schermerhorn and Corinne Quiggle. They won their second match by knocking off the top-seeded pair of Cannon and Sarah Sponcil in a three-set decision, 21-16, 15-21, 15-9; and then continued their run with a 17-21, 21-16, 15-13 victory against the fourth-seeded team of Kristen Nuss and Taryn Kloth. In their semifinal, Graudina and Harward went two sets to take out Hughes and Kolinske, 22-20, 21-17. 
 
Scoles and Urango went 5-2 and played three sets in all but one match. An AVP tour veteran, Urango matched her career-best finish in second place while Scoles played in her first-career Pro Series final. The pair fell to 16-6 together and moved to 12-3 in matches where they win the first set. 
 
On the men's side, USC men's volleyball alumnus Tri Bourne won his sixth-career AVP title when he and partner Trevor Crabb defeated the top-seeded pair of Theo Brunner and Chaim Schalk, 23-21, 21-14, in the championship match.
 
Under third-year head coach Dain Blanton, the USC beach volleyball team captured its fourth NCAA Championship (fifth national title) and fourth Pac-12 crown in 2022. The Women of Troy finished the year ranked No. 1 and had a record of 37-1 with a 36-match win streak intact at the end. USC added four AVCA All-Americans to its history books with the four-time selection of Tina Graudina as well as the third-career honor for Sammy Slater. Graudina was named the Pac-12's Player of the Year a third time and earned Pac-12 and AVCA Pair of the Year honors with partner Hailey Harward, who was also tabbed an AVCA All-American along with sophomore Megan Kraft.
 
For more information on the USC beach volleyball team, a complete schedule, and results, please visit USCTrojans.com/beach. Fans of the Women of Troy can follow the team on Instagram and on Twitter @USCBeach.